


can't we just be (so)

by radiowrittenheart



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Chatting & Messaging, Confusion, Drabble, F/F, Light Angst, Long-Distance Friendship, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 13:18:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6612103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiowrittenheart/pseuds/radiowrittenheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel couldn't hold it. Pacifica didn't know to take it. They're playing tug of war, with a thousand mile rope between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	can't we just be (so)

**Author's Note:**

> i'm dealing w some love problems myself so why not make my OTP suffer too???

Mabel may as well have marched up to the Northwests’ house, the biggest bouquet of flowers in her hands, and poured her heart out. Because that was how she felt. Even if it was said through sporadic, short IM’s over video chat, with too many emojis and maybe not even of the sparkle and heart ones, she confessed everything she felt.

And she waited.

She had sat in front of her computer for hours; unnecessarily hitting the refresh button over and over, waiting for something, anything.

**XxNWQueenxX** was marked as Stand By, the little yellow dot taunting Mabel.

Pacifica’s icon, a pure white kitten wearing a gold crown, staring her down.

It’s not as if Mabel could go back and delete all of the IM’s, even if she wanted to. But she didn’t. She just wanted a reply. But it had been approximately five hours, thirty-two minutes and fifty-six seconds since she sent the first message. Just something simple, but it was one piece of the bigger picture. It all started with,  _ Paz??? heyyy !!!! ^-^ just wanna tell you smthn yknow???  _ and it only escalated from there.

_ its kinda crazy lmao O_o _

_ but ive been missing u more n more!!!! Xx :D _

_ & yknow how weird my thoughts can get _

_ like a few mnths ago they started getting RLLY weird lol XD _

There was a pause between messages. Mabel had needed to sit back for a good five minutes before she had sent the rest of them. A small rant, a bit of a diversion where she talked about a dream, and then whoomp; there it was.

_ I rlly rlly rlly like you Pacifica <3 _

_ ‘like like’ if u wanna word like we’re in the 2nd grade~ _

_ ur just so pretty and funny and nice and maybe when i get back to GF we can hang out at the movies or smthn??? _

_ idk!!! _

The wait was making her sick. She just wanted Pacifica to at least say something. Even rejection would probably feel better than this. But here she was, Mabel Luann Pines, refusing to budge from her spot in front of her laptop, squinting at the words she had typed. Her fingers were shaking as she reached out, typing out one last message. She wrote it, and then rewrote it. She must have gone through four or five different versions of the same thing before screwing her eyes shut and slamming a finger onto the ENTER key.

_ i get it if this makes u weirded out or w/e XP _

_ We can still be bffs right??? *-* _

_ idk i was just being dumb \\_(ツ)_/¯ _

_ **hugs**!!! _

A heavy sigh escaped Mabel, and she shifted in the blanket she was wrapped up in. Bringing a corner up to her eye, she lied to herself, saying she was just tired. That the tears were from exhaustion and not something else.

She didn’t even perk up at hearing her bedroom door creak open.

But she did look up when she heard a beanbag being dragged across the floor.

“Hey,” Dipper spoke up, giving an awkward wave.

A shopping bag was slung on his arm and he grunted once the lazy chair was next to his sister. He held the bag out to her once he flopped down. Dipper seemed exhausted, but not nearly as much as Mabel. She hesitantly took the bag, peering in - and a breathless laugh escaped her.

“Gotta heal that heart of yours,” he teased.

“Thanks,” Mabel muttered, taking out the pint of ice cream and digging out the spoon from the bottom of the bag.

She stared at the screen, swallowing hard as she read her messages over and over. She stabbed at the frozen treat, letting chips of chocolate break and fly around. Dipper noticed the edge in his sister, reaching out to gently rub her on the arm.

He sighed. “It’ll be okay, Mabel,” he said.

“How do you know, Dipper?” she retorted, her voice cracking when she shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Despite it all, she continued to rant. “What if Pacifica’s already read them? What if she hates me and thinks I’m weird or creepy?! Maybe she doesn’t even want to be my friend anymore!”

Mabel was shaking, carelessly wiping ice cream off of her mouth with her blanket.

Dipper shook his head, opening his mouth to speak before his twin sister interrupted him again.

“I think I love her,” she blurted out.

Twelve year old Dipper Pines would have had a heart attack if Mabel of all people confessed to being in love with Pacifica Northwest. But now, sixteen year old Dipper Pines was there to be a support system in any way he could. So, his eyes darted to the screen - and he took his sister’s flimsy excuse of a laptop, balancing it on his bony knees. He winced at the grammar and punctuation, but managed to read through the whole thing. He paused, pursing his lips. Mabel had written it all right…

He shrugged, placing the computer back on the dresser. “You just have to wait,” Dipper finally said.

“I’ve been waiting,” Mabel whined. “It’s been five hours.”

Dipper found himself speechless, and simply sat there, letting his sister cry it out.

They sat there in silence; and the laptop’s screen went to sleep a few minutes later.

Neither of them heard the soft ‘ding’ of a video call coming in.

 

**_~ ~ ~ ~_ **

 

Pacifica froze when she saw all of the messages. Sure, she was used to getting spammed by Mabel, seeing the little green martian in a dress icon always pop up in the corner of her computer. As silly as Mabel’s screen name was,  **GlitterGlueGoddessofGravity** , Pacifica enjoyed always seeing it. She usually got something hilarious or comforting, because that was just how things worked.

Late-night conversations with them, silly photos sent or encouraging messages. Some nights where video calls with both of them snuggled in piles of pillows and blankets, venting or just shooting the breeze.

But this was something else.

A small flood of IM’s, no video chat requests. Just messages. That typically wasn’t Mabel’s style.

And as Pacifica read, she felt like vomiting. Not because she was sick or disgusted, she was just … scared and confused. Mabel. Of all the girls in the world, of everyone she knew, Pacifica was the object of Mabel’s affections. Beautiful, hilarious, quirky Mabel Pines. It was too much, and not enough. Right now, there was an urge in Pacifica to run to the Mystery Shack and talk to Mabel.

But this was the dead of winter. Mabel wouldn’t be there. She was in Piedmont.

They would have to wait for another four months until summer began.

Pacifica’s eyes darted to the clock, and her heart wrenched. The time turned from 11:59 to 12:00 am.

The messages were dated February 13th.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to us,” Pacifica choked out, vision blurry from tears as she skimmed through the IM’s again.

She didn’t know what she was doing, but she darted the mouse over to the little Phone icon in the top left corner. She checked off the name she wanted - and watched the system call Mabel through blurry vision.

**_. . . calling GlitterGlueGoddessofGravity . . ._ **

 

**_~ ~ ~ ~_ **

 

**_. . . missed call from XxNWQueenxX . . ._ ** was the first thing Mabel saw when she woke up at her desk, face covered in ice cream and her brother fast asleep in the beanbag chair.

There were no IM’s. Mabel swallowed hard, kicking her brother in the shin - waking him up.

Dipper groaned, slightly sitting up to glare at his sister. “What,” he deadpanned.

“Pacifica tried to video call me last night,” Mabel said, her voice wistful and lost, almost like a scared little girl’s.

“Oh,” Dipper mumbled. “Do you wanna talk to her?”

Mabel shook her head. “Not now,” she admitted. “Last night was rough for me. I’m all worn out just from typing that to her, I - I can’t talk,” She placed the empty ice cream container on her desk, sticky fingers typing out a sloppy excuse. But it would have to work for now.

_ nows not a good time Paz srry <3 _

 

**_~ ~ ~ ~_ **

 

Pacifica had kept the video call application open. She hadn’t slept a wink since the screen faded because her call hadn’t been accepted. Mabel would never play a prank like this on her. And once another instant message came in, Pacifica felt her heart fell into her stomach.

Then, another popped up.

_ again srry <3 _

Apologizing for the confession that time around; Pacifica assumed. She sighed, typing out a simple reply.

_ It’s fine :) _

 

**_~ ~ ~ ~_ **

 

But was it?

Both of them, despite their distance, felt like they would never know until summer.

**Author's Note:**

> pls comment! :)


End file.
